January 1999

January 31, 1999

Tyrells in A Storm of Swords

[Summary: A reader asked if more of Ser Loras shall be seen in _A Storm of Swords_]

Not only will you see more of Ser Loras, but you'll see his mother, his father, his brother, his cousins, and you'll hear about his other brother, his uncles, and more cousins. A full bouquet of golden roses.

[Summary from Kay-Arne Hansen: I asked him if he had read 'Norwegian Kingssagas' by Snorre Sturlasson, and explained that I thought so on the basis of Sansa's story about Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk seeming to be the equivalent of the brother kings Alrik and Eirik, and went on to make suggestions about other possible 'inspirators' from the 'Kingssagas'.]

Ah... well... a fascinating theory, but...

I did take a semester of Scandinavian history back my sophomore year in college, which was.... hmmmm... around about 1967-8. I read a couple of Icelandic sagas during the course, and found them thoroughly compelling, but after the passage of thirty years I confess I no longer recall the titles or the names of any of the characters. It may be that chunks of them, buried in my subconscious, somehow surfaced during A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE... but it seems a long shot.

Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk were inspired by the twin knights of Arthurian myth, Sir Balon and Sir Balin, who appear in Mallory.

One of the things I wanted to do with A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE was to make it a little more "real" than most high fantasy. I drew much of my inspiration from history and historical fiction, and immersed myself in the Middle Ages before I began writing. Patriarchy was as much as part of medieval society as feudalism, faith, or swords.

I have created other fictional worlds that are more sexually egalitarian -- try my novel WINDHAVEN, written with Lisa Tuttle.

With ICE AND FIRE, however, I preferred to stay closer to my historical models.

A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE will eventually run to six books, so I still have three and a half to write. That will keep me busy for quite a few years.

After that, there's no telling what I'll do. If I do eventually write a prequel to ICE AND FIRE, however, it will not concern the overthrow of Aerys II. I'd go back earlier than that, and follow up with Dunk and Egg from "The Hedge Knight."

After rereading both AGOT and ACOK I was wondering about one question: Why was Hodor not afraid of the crypts under Winterfell at the end of ACOK? In AGOT Hodor was very afraid of the crypts, he wouldn't take Bran down there, but in ACOK he stayed with Bran and Rickon in the crypt for quite a while, how did he stay there if he was so afraid?

Hodor was only afraid of the crypts =at that specific time.= Not before and not after.